'Topshop terrorist' who shared IS execution videos on social media jailed

1 September 2021, 20:40 | Updated: 1 September 2021, 20:53

A Muslim convert who told an undercover police officer he wanted to see London under the Islamic State flag has been jailed for posting extremist videos on social media.

Ibrahim Roger Anderson spoke to the woman on Facebook and Telegram, sharing videos which depicted "extremely graphic" footage of IS executions and suicide bombings, the Old Bailey heard.

He was unaware he was speaking to a covert officer.

The 44-year-old, a car mechanic of Luton in Bedfordshire, was sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday after admitting a string of terror offences.

He was previously jailed for three years in 2016 after being convicted of trying to drum up support for IS outside Topshop in London's Oxford Street.

Sentencing, judge Philip Katz QC said of the footage Anderson shared: "Some of it is at the worst end of the range seen in this court."

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The videos had titles including "Flames Of War", "Answer The Call", and "Procession Of Light" and also featured a father encouraging his children to follow him into martyrdom, prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said.

In one message to the undercover officer, Anderson, a father himself, said: "We will, with the help of Tawhid (the belief in the oneness of God), raise the black flag over London."

Anderson pleaded guilty to 10 counts of disseminating terrorist publications, and four charges of possession of terrorist publications relating to Islamic State, and was told he would serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

He also admitted breaching his terror notification requirements when he withheld an email address from the police in an attempt to prevent the police from linking him with the Facebook account, receiving an additional 12-month jail term.

Patrick Harte, defending, said his client was "contrite", more open-minded about other religions, and expressed his remorse.

But he said he "turned to the internet for some sort of release" during the coronavirus pandemic, when he spoke with the undercover officer.

The judge added: "Like so many others, you were spending too much time in the dark regions of the internet."